1TB SSD Portable Drive Launched By Samsung

The trend towards storing vast amounts of data on physically smaller drives continues with the release of this Samsung product.

Despite its huge capacity the new drive weighs just 30 grams, and fits into a package measuring 71 x 53 millimeters with a thickness of 9 millimeters, dimensions which mean that it is smaller than your average business card.

Samsung T1 series: Three product range

The T1 series solid state drives are available in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB models, powered by 3D V-NAND memory technology. The drives will be able to transfer data at up to 450MB per second, and will be compatible with both Windows and Mac computers.

Samsung announced that the drive will be available by the end of the month in 14 countries across the U.S., European and Asian markets, in what will be the first phase of its launch.

Potential customers will be pleased to hear that the T1 will have a three year warranty, as well as a dynamic thermal guard feature which will turn the device off automatically when it senses that temperatures are reaching extreme levels.

SSD vs HDD

Over the past few years SSD has made significant headway against more traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) because they are faster to read and write data. This improved performance justifies the slightly higher price tag in the eyes of many consumers, who are increasingly downloading huge amounts of media and other files.

Options for internal SSDs can now be seen in some laptops, and Samsung may be hoping to corner the market in those consumers who need more storage but don’t want to buy an entirely new machine just yet.

The company has announced that the 250GB will cost $179.99, the 500GB model $299.99 and the top of the range 1TB carries a whopping $599.99 price tag. The small size of the T1 series is certainly impressive but it remains to be seen if consumers are willing to shell out $600 for an external drive, when you can buy a half decent laptop for the same amount of money.